High efficiency and intelligent networking

Among other things, it offers high work quality and efficiency, an innovative goods-to-man solution, future-oriented workplaces, intelligent networking of logistics, production and distribution in line with Industry 4.0, as well as optimal use of the available space. The headquarters for Asian parts distribution is located in Singapore. Pepperl+Fuchs, one of the world's leading companies for industrial sensors and explosion protection technology, has a local sales office in most Asian countries to guarantee proximity to customers.

The heart of the Pepperl+Fuchs logistics network in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) is the automated Global Distribution Center (GDC) in Singapore. From here, a wide range of products are supplied and distributed to all Pepperl+Fuchs companies. "The main reason for setting up a global distribution center was to consolidate global stocks of standard products," says Mehmet Hatiboglu, Managing Director at Pepperl+Fuchs. Like the EDC in Mannheim, the logistics center was planned and implemented by Witron Logistik + Informatik. Service and maintenance of the facility will be carried out by a Witron on-site team.

"If you think about intelligent, smart and efficient processes today, you can't ignore the philosophy of Industry 4.0."

Hong Han Thanh Warehouse and Logistics Director Southeast Asia Region Pepperl+Fuchs (Photo: Pepperl+Fuchs)

Pre-commissioned raw materials and supplies are delivered in small quantities from the GDC to the affiliated production facility in the same building and to a production site twelve kilometers away. The same materials are also delivered in larger quantities to factories in Germany, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Vietnam and the USA. Finished goods are shipped in bulk shipments to the two distribution centers in Europe (EDC) and America (UDC) daily by air freight and once a week by sea freight. In addition, up to 1,000 parcels a day are sent directly to Asian end customers "door-to-door" by courier.

Largest single investment in the company's history

At 44 million euros, the GDC in Singapore is the largest single investment in Pepperl+Fuchs' company history. The investment for the 32-meter high Witron warehouse amounts to around twelve million euros. The AKL comprises four aisles. Each aisle is controlled by a storage and retrieval machine with a mast length of 18 meters. "There are six intelligent goods-in workstations in the goods-in area and eleven multifunctional workstations in the picking area, which can be converted from picking to packing stations - and vice versa - at any time, as well as a workstation for value-added services," says Witron project manager Jürgen Hüttemann. "Up to 4,600 order lines are currently picked and packed here every day."

The decision in favor of Witron for the project was quickly made. Both partners had already successfully implemented the project in Mannheim in 2013. "It is obvious that we have drawn on the positive experiences we had at the Mannheim site and want to benefit from them," explains Hong Han Thanh, Warehouse and Logistics Director at Pepperl+Fuchs responsible for the Southeast Asia region. "Both warehouses have a similar constellation, so a "copy and paste" variant with minor adaptations to local requirements was the logical consequence for us." The GDC consists of three storage areas: the automated small parts warehouse (AKL) with 60,000 tray storage locations, a long goods warehouse with 400 locations and the narrow-aisle pallet warehouse with 1,800 pallet locations.

Integration of production and logistics

The four-aisle mini-load warehouse has 60,000 storage locations. The cartons are used to store 97,000 different items.

As in Mannheim, Witron's Order Picking System (OPS) is also used in Singapore. OPS enables storage and picking in a single system. The modular solution is an integration of an automated small parts warehouse (AKL) and upstream picking stations, which are largely decoupled from the speed of the storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) by means of sequence buffers - or, as in the case of Pepperl+Fuchs, by means of a QVW solution (cross transfer car). The articles are provided in the OPS at the pick and pack workstations according to the goods-to-man principle. Thanks to the flexibility of the system, trays, containers, cartons or small load carriers with different sizes, heights and subdivisions can be used as load carriers. In order to store the very large number of different items efficiently and in a space-saving manner, the cartons used at Pepperl+Fuchs are subdivided up to sixteen times. The cartons are transported on trays. The assignment of the trays is automatically scanned in the incoming goods department. Picking takes place directly into the shipping carton or into the order carton for production supply.

Another special feature of the GDC is the end-to-end intralogistics connection between production and logistics. An automated guided vehicle system (AGV) takes the order from logistics to production and vice versa. As soon as production has reported back a box of finished goods and places it on a predefined shelf, an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) is automatically called via Wi-Fi. This is where the Industry 4.0 concept comes into play: the box is scanned, the addition is carried out in the background and the goods are available.

Smart processes - high efficiency

Pepperl+Fuchs is very satisfied with what has been achieved so far. "The availability of the system is definitely above standard," says project manager Hong Han Thanh. "In addition, the picking performance has increased significantly. It is now three times higher per workstation in the automated logistics center than in the previous manual warehouse, and the trend is still rising." The GDC also offers interesting expansion opportunities for the future. "We also get a much better overview from a planning perspective," says Hong.

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